A Non-Technical Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Web Startup

September 20, 2013

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There’s few things more desperately frustrating to an entrepreneur than having the vision, the drive and the business savvy to launch a web startup, only to have the whole process come to a screeching halt due to lack of technical skills.

This is probably one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of many aspiring non-technical entrepreneurs. Naturally, the next question becomes how would you find the right technical alchemist to transform a sparkling idea into a realistic venture?

Oftentimes non-tech entrepreneurs take one of the following approaches:

Rely on third-party developers – You can always outsource a project. But no matter who you are working with, be they independent contractors or outsourcing companies, the cost can be prohibitive depending on the complexity and scope of the project. Furthermore, communication, project quality and working relations can cause more complications than expected.

Hire full-time programmers – Having a dedicated full-time team would make things much easier, but it is not uncommon for good programmers to ask for 6-digit salaries and you will be competing with many IT companies who are willing to offer them even more. The best advice would be to have a thick wallet or be prepared to give up a large portion of your equity. Besides, hiring the wrong person at a startup’s early stage can create enormous risk — people problems are another leading cause of failure in high-potential startups.

Find a technical co-founder – Having the right co-founder that both shares your vision and has the technical muscle to build the product is an ideal solution, but at the same time it can be the most difficult, especially for first-time entrepreneurs who don’t have a successful track record that most potential co-founders care about.

Try to learn coding on your own – Learning some coding would help you understand hackers’ language and better manage a technical team. But if you are thinking to master coding from scratch and build professional-quality products right out of the gate, it may very likely end up being a “mission impossible.”

The good news is there are other non-conventional ways to address the needs for a technical partner which we’ll get into a little later, but let’s just assume that you get your technical person is on board. Many more decisions remain, such as:

Choosing a development framework – Many programming languages and web development frameworks are available for you to choose from. You have to consider factors including the best match for your product idea, availability of talent and your desired architecture.

Consider back-end operations – Not only does your product need a good user interface, the backend architecture is also critical as it affects operational costs, service stability and scalability.

Build the product – Finally it’s time for product development. The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) strategy may help expedite the process, but you would still have to go through the long and painful steps of countless iterations before having a presentable product.

Congratulations if you have made it here, but unfortunately the hits keep on coming:

24/7 monitoring and upkeep – If you have decided to manage your own infrastructure, 24/7 monitoring and proper emergency response procedures also need to be implemented.

And endless bugs to fix, new ideas and enhancements to implement…

Luckily, the process gets substantially simplified with Caspio. The powerful cloud database platform empowers you to build various kinds of custom applications and can be the catalyst that turns your hazy ideas into real success — all without coding.

1. You may not need a technical partner.

Caspio offers an intuitive visual app builder to help you accomplish all kinds of tasks with point-and-click simplicity. Many non-technical entrepreneurs have successfully implemented their business ideas using Caspio in a very short amount of time.

2. You can easily achieve the MVP strategy and agile development.

PaaS is known for its strategic benefits of enabling faster delivery of applications to market, but most of the offerings are designed for developers. Caspio falls into a particular category of PaaS that serves non-coders. Implementing an idea or making changes to an existing product is easy with Caspio, which streamlines the iteration process and minimizes the total time spent on each round.

3. Infrastructure is already taken care of.

The need for infrastructure provisioning is also eliminated. Caspio utilizes world-class datacenters from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to run your applications and host your data. A multi-layer security system is in place to protect your data from unauthorized access or possible data loss. Furthermore, you can easily scale your resources as the business grows.

4. No up-front cost.

Unlike any of the traditional product development and launch method described above, Caspio requires only a small amount of investment to take your ideas off the ground.

5. Unparalleled support and technical consultation.

Caspio has an excellent U.S.-based support team that is professional, friendly and easy-to-reach. We understand that building a business on your own can be a difficult journey and we are determined to help you every step of the way.

In addition, the platform is fully managed around the clock to ensure the highest level of service reliability.

6. Want to save time? Try Caspio Professional Services.

The professional services team can create part of or the entire application for you as required so that you can focus on building your business without having to do something that is not your primary skillset.

Transforming an idea into a successful web startup is not easy, especially for those who have a limited technical background. But using the right tool can help you jumpstart the process and make the task less daunting. As a powerful PaaS platform, Caspio is an ideal option for non-technical web entrepreneurs to launch their ideas with minimal investment compared to other traditional methods. Imagination really is the only limit to what you can do with Caspio.

Do you have a great idea with proper funding but lack technical know-how to get started? Reach out to Caspio right now and let us help make your vision a reality.